OpinionJudges take a kicking in various jurisdictions, including one in Hong Kong over jailing of seven police officers
Barrister Andrew Raffell says director of public prosecutions and judge in the trial of the ‘Occupy Seven’ would not have reached their conclusions lightly
Judges in Britain, the US and Hong Kong have been receiving quite a kicking from forces that normally would be extolling them as dispensers of law and order and even justice. The conservative press in Britain, the new US president and members of the police force, even at a high level, and the conservative establishment in Hong Kong.
What is going on? Why this outpouring of criticism? Has the Hong Kong Club been putting something hallucinogenic in the gin and tonics? No. In Hong Kong a good judge has reached a decision that is not liked by people who regard themselves as the guardians of all that is good and right about our society. The howls of protest are painful to the ears of anyone who believes in a truly free society and democracy.
For what it is worth I am and always have been of the view that lawyers are too deferential to judges here. There is none of the sometimes argumentative cut and thrust in Hong Kong courts that I was used to in England.
Judges, of course, should be treated in a courteous manner and with at least a semblance of respect. Even those who by their ability or manner do not really deserve it.
The same could be said of the senior judges described as “traitors to the people” by the Daily Mail and other organs of the gutter press in Britain.